Yeah, that’s a great twitter thread.
Matt_W
4079
Tim Wise is among the smartest observers of the way U.S. social politics intersects with racism out there. I’ve read White Like Me about 5 times. Great thread and I have to agree: we need to have policy, but run against white nationalism.
… Some highlights so that the lede doesn’t stay buried:
Canuck
4081
“Trumpism”, I like it. Hopefully it will someday carry the same disdain as Nazism. Let’s make sure the Republican party is tarred with it.
rowe33
4082
I imagine sometime around the year 2080 or so, Trumpism will make a weird comeback. Many folks will say WTF, fuck these Trumpists, they should be punched! Others will worry that calling them Trumpists will turn them into Trumpists.
Definitely, what Wise said, turning out the base is a must, and that depends a ton more on “Dump is weakening our nation by turning Americans against each other” (which is a unifying message) than it does on policy details (which not only divides Dems, but also bores the motivation right out of a lot of our tent).
However, there is a flip side to this. Think of what the Republicans need, in order to turn out their vote. They are in a bind, because a lot of Dump’s messages divide his tent. Some love it and wish it would go further, some cringe… So their dream is that we do their work for them: Get the Dems to insult rurals, gun owners, religious people, old people, uneducated people, people who have been harmed by progress (coal miners, for example). Paint them all with a broad brush as racists and morons and deserving of having their culture wiped from the face of the earth. You can bet every penny you own that Republican operatives will be working overtime to elicit such messages from the candidate, his/her surrogates, and the general Dem tent to this effect. Because that is the way for them to turn out their vote.
Even if they succeed, we have a decent chance of winning the presidential election, not a sure thing, but a pretty good chance. But we would have no chance of the sweeping victories down the ticket, which would allow for real progress.
We need a campaign based upon “Trump turned out to be a dangerous divider” not a campaign based on “Trump’s followers are a bunch of despicable deplorables.”
I suspect they’ll just be projecting, telling Republicans that it’s Democrats who want to destroy this (white, Christian) country. But I agree with you that the way to counter that is to focus on what makes this country great and show how Trump is destroying that. As with the Duke election, I think both sides will turn out in record numbers
Matt_W
4085
Wise specifically and categorically advocates focusing on Trump’s racism and white nationalism.
It’s not just that he’s “turning Americans against each other.” It’s that he’s a racist, way outside of the mainstream, not reflective of our national culture. That both de-normalizes Trump and re-affirms the values we want to retain.
Well, I partly agree. I’m all for calling him an authoritarian. And for calling him out for his race-baiting.
But that is distinctly different, at least in the rural country I know, from broad brushing his followers as authoritarian, or racist, or whatever.
In large part because of human nature. If WE tell those people that they are on the same team as Trump, then WE push them in that direction. If WE tell those people that we are attacking them as much as Trump, then WE push people towards defending themselves against us, as opposed to considering what Dump is doing. The result is that liberals are doing the conservative political operatives’ work for them.
And, because the broad brush statements about these groups are inaccurate. In our anger, we may feel like saying all these people are racists or morons or whatever, but they are not. Some of them are, and if you are responding to particular humans who said or did something racist or moronic (Drump, his circle, or his followers) sure, call them out for it. Those people chanting were totally beyond the pale. But derogatory talk about gun owners or religious people or uneducated people in general? This stuff sounds so stupid to people outside the solid liberal camp that it makes our actual policy ideas suspect. And if we can’t control ourselves, at least we need a candidate who can avoid this error.
But note that Wise is saying that Trump himself ought to be attacked, and yeah, of course.
They need to attack Republicans in general with it, not just Trump. Getting the presidency is great and all, but if they don’t obtain a majority in the Senate at some point during that new president’s term, none of it is going to matter.
imho, it depends on what you mean by Republicans in general.
Senators, congressmen, people running for lower office? Sure.
But not evangelicals or coal miners or old people or gun owners or religious people or rurals, as broad groups, even knowing that >50% of those demographics will vote GOP. And that is BECAUSE we need to win all those other offices, as well. We want to diminish their sense of being attacked by us, because then they are less likely to vote, and because some (not half, but some) are unhappy enough with Trump to vote our way. IF they have not just endured months of our telling them how personally deficient they all are.
Matt_W
4089
Which Democratic politicians have ever done this?
And why do we have to care about their snowflake sensibilities in order to win, but they win by being assholes? I begin to suspect that you don’t win elections in America by propping soft pillows under the poor little heads of all those people who voted for the pussy grabber and racist.
Timex
4090
I don’t know if this is true, but it may be that acting like an asshole only works too elect assholes, from a base of assholes.
Banzai
4091
I don’t think that calling racists racist is being an asshole. It is factual, uncomfortable, and essential. Like punching Nazis. They can stand up for their racist beliefs, or they can go back under their rocks, or they can figure out that what they have said and done are racist and change. I do not believe that Nazis should be coddled so as not to make them go full Nazi, and feel much the same way with racism.
And right on cue we have Trump calling Democrats the real racists. I clicked on his tweet for the ratio ans was horrified to see that most of the replies were people agreeing with him.
ShivaX
4094
Keep in mind every Russian bot/troll follows and responds to basically everything he says.
Add in actual Trump people… who do the same.
Many people don’t even follow him, they react to him through other people they follow a lot of the time.
Timex
4095
Yeah, Trump’s responses are virtually all bots.
Need to tell those folks that they voting Dems they can avoid that stain on their souls. The bigots are gonna bigot. It’s the folks who are squishy about it that might listen.
Yep, and before too long you’ll have the usual suspects repeating the standard GOP talking point about how the Republicans are the Party of Lincoln who freed the enslaved, followed quickly by the non sequitur that “ergo, Republicans can’t be racist, Q.E.D!”
